Jail staff
want better weaponsChandigarh, June 19Officials in the Jail Department of
Haryana are not happy with the state government’s step regarding the
upgradation of the jail staff’s weapons.

BKU men
continue dharnaKaithal, June 19Traffic on Chandigarh-Hisar
National Highway 65 remained disrupted for the ninth consecutive day
today, as BKU activists, demanding release of their jailed President
Ghasi Ram Nain, continued their dharna near Simla village.

Hisar
depot stir postponedChandigarh, June 19The Haryana Roadways Workers Union,
affiliated with the Sarv Karamchari Sangh, has put off its proposed
two-hour strike in the Hisar depot of the Roadways tomorrow following a
meeting between its representatives and the Transport Minister, Mr Ashok
Arora, here today.

Haryana move on ACRsChandigarh, June 19The Haryana Government has decided that all administrative secretaries would take a review meeting of their departments on a six-monthly basis to ensure that the annual confidential reports
(ACRs) of their subordinates are recorded in time

2 booked
for abetting suicideFatehabad, June 19The police today booked the husband
and father-in-law of Raj Bala for abetment to suicide. The police booked
her husband Subhash and father-in-law Nanak under Sections 304 and 34,
IPC, and has begun investigations. No one has been arrested yet. Raj
Bala, along with her four minor daughters, had reportedly committed
suicide on June 13. Atrocities by her husband have been cited as reason.

Stories from Haryana towns falling in the
National Capital Region are put in NCR Tribune.

Senior
Secondary exam result cardsChandigarh, June 19The Haryana Board of School Education has decided to
distribute certificates and result cards of regular candidates of the
senior secondary annual examination 2003 to the heads of the
institutions through the district education officers (DEOs).

Chandigarh, June 19
Officials in the Jail Department of Haryana are not happy with the state
government’s step regarding the upgradation of the jail staff’s weapons.

Official sources here say that 30 revolvers were made available to the department earlier this month for use by deputy superintendents and assistant superintendents of prison. Previously, these officials did not have small arms for carrying while on duty.

Besides, 383 rifles were supplied to jails for use by the warders. The .303 rifles were given by the Police Department to the jail authorities in exchange for the antiquated guns which the jail warders had been using.

The demand for the upgradation of the weaponry of the jail personnel with small arms is an old one. What made the state government take note of this demand was the murder of a warder in Hisar Central Jail by criminals in April, a source here said.

Prison officials, however, lament that the fresh supply of arms to the staff was inadequate. They point out that the rifles as well as the revolvers supplied to the prison staff were police discards and considered outdated. While the .303 rifle was being replaced with an SLR, the revolvers supplied to the jail staff at the nominal price of about Rs 600 each were of .455 bore which were not used by police officers any more, the officials said.

The officials add that approximately 11,000 inmates stay in the 18 prisons of the state. The number of sanctioned posts of warders in the state is 557, which is much less than that in Punjab or Himachal Pradesh. Moreover, 117 out of these posts are lying vacant for a long time.

“Given the mismatch of staff-inmate ratio, if a situation develops in a prison, it can be effectively tackled only by using sophisticated weapons which the prison staff are not being provided with”, an official states.

When the state Home Department authorities was contacted regarding the shortage of staff in the prisons, they said steps were being taken for recruiting 1,500 warders for manning the prisons, including the three new central jails coming up at Karnal, Gurgaon and Faridabad. They added that the Jail Department’s demand of providing the staff with automatic weapons was being examined.

Kaithal, June 19
Traffic on Chandigarh-Hisar National Highway 65 remained disrupted for the ninth consecutive day today, as BKU activists, demanding release of their jailed President Ghasi Ram Nain, continued their dharna near Simla village.

Meanwhile, the district administration has launched a vigorous campaign to persuade the agitators to end the dharna.

According to the reports received here today, panches and sarpanches of at least 20 villages of the Kalayat area assembled in the office of the BDO, Kalayat. After listening to the Deputy Commissioner, Mr Anurag Agarwal, and the SP, Mr Yogender Nehra, they decided to discuss the adverse impact of the BKU agitation with villagers. However, the BKU leader spearheading the agitation, Mr Jia Lal, has announced that in spite of all tactics adopted by the government, their agitation would continue.

Chandigarh, June 19
The Haryana Roadways Workers Union, affiliated with the Sarv Karamchari Sangh, has put off its proposed two-hour strike in the Hisar depot of the Roadways tomorrow following a meeting between its representatives and the Transport Minister, Mr Ashok Arora, here today.

The union leaders also met the Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, at his residence.

The call for the token strike was given in protest against the alleged murderous attack on certain employees of the depot a few days ago. The union alleges that the attack was engineered by certain senior officers of the Roadways.

Mr Arora reportedly assured the union delegation, which was led by its president, Mr Hari Narain Sharma, that the dispute in the Hisar depot would be resolved within a couple of days. After this assurance the union decided to put off the strike. But it said if its demands were not met before July 2, the union members would gherao the Transport Commissioner that day.

The delegation also apprised the Chief Minister of the union demands, which include the regularisation of the services of daily wage workers and contract employees and halt to the privatisation of the Roadways.

Chandigarh, June 19
The Haryana Government has decided that all administrative secretaries would take a review meeting of their departments on a six-monthly basis to ensure that the annual confidential reports
(ACRs) of their subordinates are recorded in time.

According to a circular issued by the Chief Secretary to all Heads of Departments, divisional commissioners, deputy commissioners and sub-divisional officers, the first meeting should be held in June and the second in October every year. It had come to the notice of the government that despite repeated instructions, the ACRs of the subordinates were not being written by the officers as per the prescribed time schedule.

The circular further states that the administrative secretary concerned must send a report to the Chief Secretary indicating the status of initiation, review and acceptance of the ACRs of the department under them by the first week of July or November as the case might be.
— TNS

Fatehabad, June 19
The police today booked the husband and father-in-law of Raj Bala for abetment to suicide. The police booked her husband Subhash and father-in-law Nanak under Sections 304 and 34, IPC, and has begun investigations. No one has been arrested yet.

Raj Bala, along with her four minor daughters, had reportedly committed suicide on June 13. Atrocities by her husband have been cited as reason.

The bodies of two daughters were fished out of a canal near Sirsa yesterday. The body of Raj Bala was cremated as unidentified body after it was recovered from Daiyyar. The other two bodies are yet to be found.

Chandigarh, June 19
The Haryana Board of School Education has decided to distribute certificates and result cards of regular candidates of the senior secondary annual examination 2003 to the heads of the institutions through the district education officers (DEOs).

Stating this, a spokesman of the board said here today that the certificates and result cards of the examination would be distributed on June 20. The board officials had been deputed to hand over the sealed packets of certificates to the DEOs. The heads of the institutions could collect these packets from the offices of their respective DEOs from 4 p.m. onwards. The students might collect their certificates and result cards from their respective schools from June 21 onwards.

Chandigarh, June 19
The Haryana Government has decided to provide a special rebate of Rs 200 per metric tonne to farmers on the purchase of gypsum.

Stating this here today, the Agriculture Minister, Mr Jaswinder Singh Sandhu, said the rebate would be provided at a rate of Rs 10 per bag and it would be in addition to the subsidy of 25 per cent already given to the farmers on the purchase of gypsum. After the special rebate, the net price to the farmers would be Rs 37.40 per bag as compared to Rs 47.40 bag earlier.